6-foot-4 sharpshooter shows off all-around skill and athleticism, says UNLV is strongly in the mix

Belmont Shore’s Katin Reinhardt - a UNLV recruiting target - drives up the floor Friday, July 22, 2011 during the Las Vegas Fab 48 tournament at Bishop Gorman. He had 10 points in a blowout win over Juice All-Stars to open pool play.

Belmont Shore's Katin Reinhardt takes a shot Friday, July 22, 2011 during the Las Vegas Fab 48 tournament at Bishop Gorman. He made four of five field goal attempts in the victory over Juice All-Stars.

This week on LasVegasSun.com Sports Talk - doubling as The Rebel Room podcast - Ray Brewer and Ryan Greene break down a busy recruiting month for Dave Rice and his UNLV men's basketball staff. The crazy weekend in Las Vegas included three big tournaments, and the the guys will fill you in on who the staff made sure to go watch, who has emerged as the primary recruiting targets and who could likely be the next commit - or two - in the class of 2012.

UNLV coach Dave Rice caught Katin Reinhardt's attention by being one of the first coaches to contact him after the 6-foot-4 shooting guard de-committed from USC in May.

But two words really helped Rice grab his attention: Jimmer Fredette.

"He compared me to Jimmer Fredette a lot," Reinhardt said, referring to Rice's former star pupil at BYU. "How he let him play is how he'll let me play. That freedom, being able to do that stuff, that's what I look at. Look where Jimmer got. He went to the NBA as a lottery pick. So if you could get that kind of coach to be behind you 100 percent, that's everything you could ask for."

In his debut game at the Fab 48 at Bishop Gorman on Friday afternoon, Reinhardt didn't score in bulk like Fredette, but he sure didn't have to. In a blowout victory over the New York-based Juice All-Stars, Reinhardt only played about half of the game for his Belmont Shore club.

But in that relatively brief stretch, he showed just why Rice and his staff are pushing so hard for him.

Reinhardt, who plays his high school ball for powerhouse Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif., has long been known as a deadly outside shooter. That's a role UNLV still has to fill with one of its four vacant scholarships remaining for the 2012 class. But Reinhardt is now turning heads by showing that he's much more than just a perimeter threat.

He hit his only two 3-point attempts Friday morning, stepping into each shot and executing with smooth form. But he also served as Belmont Shore's primary ball-handler.

Reinhardt showed off quick crossover moves and a knack for finding open teammates with a series of nifty dishes.

"I look at myself as just a guard," he said. "If I need to score the ball — there's going to be a game in this tournament when they need me to score the ball — then I'll score the ball. If I'm passing and facilitating, that's awesome.

"Pushing the ball, finding open people, that's what I like doing the most. People know I can score the ball. I love passing the ball as much as I like scoring."

Reinhardt had two nice finishes near the rim in the game and had a two-handed slam in transition waived off due to a traveling violation.

Unofficially, he finished the game with 10 points and five assists.

Overall, he flashed a serious amount of all-around athleticism that clearly caught his opponents off-guard.

Rice sat on the baseline from start to finish, and it appears clearer than ever that Reinhardt is the program's top target in its search for a sharpshooter in the 2012 senior crop.

The seriousness of UNLV's recruitment hasn't gone unnoticed by Reinhardt, nor has the attention he's receiving from the Rebels' fans. About 20 of them, decked out in scarlet, sat on the opposite baseline, cheering on Reinhardt the whole time. He even acknowledged them during a couple of breaks in the game.

"It's great. As you can see, they have a great fan base," he said. "I was on Twitter saying I was coming out here, everybody was tweeting me back. It's great that they'll support you at an AAU basketball tournament. It's great."

Reinhardt, who Rivals.com ranks as the No. 43 overall prospect in the 2012 class, said the schools recruiting him the hardest right now are UNLV, Texas, Baylor, Syracuse and North Carolina State. It's also been known for a while that Gonzaga is pushing hard, too.

He cited the possibility of early playing time and UNLV's new uptempo style as what's really grabbed him so far, along with his overall comfort with Rice.

"He's an awesome guy, and he really knows how to talk to the kids," he said. "The style of play is definitely what a lot of kids want to do — get up and down the floor. It's a good, fast-paced offense, and it's fun."

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Hey Ryan if you were to guess off of what you are hearing from some of these recruits and the coaching staff, what four guys besides Cook would you expect to be wearing the scarlet and grey next year? Also you have done a great job keeping us rebel fans in the loop with everything that goes on with the team. Thank You

He has a very nice game and skill set, also has a high basketball IQ. Was a shame that his coach played him at the 3 for most of his later games. Katin did well there and did whatever coach seemed to want him to do without a problem, no head down or complaining, just got after it. The team seemed to run more fluid and have more motion when he was at the point. I like his ability to create for himself or teammates off the dribble over being a spot up shooter.

I also got a chance to speak with him after his game Sunday morning, very nice kid with lots of good things to say. I really enjoyed following him over the weekend. I think Katin will be a great get for UNLV and hope he chooses to come and be a Rebel.

Interesting on how every recruit made a comment that they liked hearing that Rice would run an "up-tempo" style.

Thinking back to when Oscar was a freshman, he would constantly slash through the lane to get to the rim. However, this past season, when the Rebels were in transition, he would pull up instead of taking it to the rim and try to set up a half court offense. Safe to say, I'm not going to miss LK's coaching style.

Here's looking forward to watch the Rebels push the ball this season. They have the depth to run the floor and play stifling defense as well. This is the type of basketball kids want to play today, so it should help with recruitment.

I am also a fan of Rice's Runnin system. Its going to pick up a knickname like Spurriers Run-N-Gun style of college football. Im sure everyone of these recruits knows what happened with Fredette last year and how many points the old Rebel teams scored under Tark. As much as national exposure speaks via television, scoring 25 plus a game will get you exposed as well. I think Oscars lack of drive and dish is a result of the injuries he has incurred over the last two years. He was incredibly agile his first year and has definatelty taken a step back slashing wise. I see this years team as a 28 win at least squad especially with all the talent that will be on the floor. Hopefully Rice can install that Killer instinct that allows a team to just wipe away an opponent instead of just letting them hang in there.

Vsol and BORNAREBEL: I would probably say Willms and Carter are both highly likely, Reinhardt is pretty likely, and then it's a toss-up after that. The Xavier Johnson suggestion is intriguing, but I think the staff is higher on Demarquise Johnson than they are on Xavier. Demarquise would be a great get, and if by chance the Rebels don't land Shabazz, too, he'd fill that spot on the wing nicely. I liked his game a lot after seeing him live. Smooth shooter, very athletic, not at all selfish. Those are all qualities Rice is looking for, I think.